The eight shapes every verb has
4 · Verbs — how the system works · a plain-language guide to Assyrian (Sureth) grammar
(Khan §4.2, §4.5–4.7.) Two stems is the shortcut. The full inventory is eight — and it is worth seeing once, because three of the eight are shapes the two-stem story never mentions and you will meet them constantly: the infinitive, the progressive stem, and the verbal noun.
| shape | what it is | patekh (I) | zarez (II) | madmekh (III) | tammez (quad) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present stem | takes S-endings → he opens | patekh- | zarez- | madmekh- | tammez- |
| past stem | takes L-endings → he opened | ptikh- | zurez- | mudmekh- | tummez- |
| resultative participle | "opened, in an opened state" | ptikha | zurza | mudmekhkha | tummezza |
| imperative | Open! | ptukh | zarez | madmekh | tammez |
| infinitive | the "to open" dictionary form | ptakha | zaruze | madmukhe | tammuze |
| progressive stem | feeds "is opening" | beptakha | zaruze | madmukhe | tammuze |
| verbal noun | "an opening, the opening of…" | ptakhta | zarazta | madmakhta | tammazta |
| active participle | "an opener, one who opens" | patkhana | — | — | — |
Four things to take from that table:
- Only Pattern I keeps the infinitive and the progressive apart. ptakha is "to open"; beptakha is the stem behind "he is opening." Everywhere else the two are one word — which is why bashulele "he is cooking" looks like it is built on a dictionary form. It is. (Historically the be- is the preposition b- "in": "he is in opening." It has fused, so treat it as part of the stem.)
- The verbal noun is a real noun, with a plural and a gender, and it is often the everyday word you actually want: khalta "eating, food" (from akhel), plakhta "work" (from palekh), dmakhta "sleep" (from damekh), ktavta "writing" (from katev), khzeta "seeing" (from khaze), takhmanta "thinking" (from takhmen), kvalta "complaint" (from kavel "to complain"). If a word in the dictionary looks like a verb wearing a -ta, this is what it is.
- The active participle is the "-er" word, and several of them are simply vocabulary: malpana "teacher," zabnana "vendor" (from zaben "to sell"), ganvana "robber" (from ganev "to steal"). Khan's own Pattern II example is basem "to heal," whose active participle is basmana "a healer" — the shape is the same CaCCana every time.
- Patterns III and quadriliteral double the last root letter before an ending that starts with a vowel: mudmekhkha, tummezza. You will hear it shortened in fast speech.
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